Redwood Area Hospital upgrades its CT scanner

According to Lynn Juell, Redwood Area Hospital imaging services manager, “The radiologist we work with told us no one else they serve has this machine”: the new scanner quadruples the capability of the hospital’s previous equipment.

When the Redwood Area Hospital adds a new piece of equipment, its main focus is to enhance what it can offer to patients in an effort to ensure they’re getting the best care and having the best outcomes which are possible.

With that in mind the local hospital added a new CT scanner in May, and that equipment upgrade puts the local medical facility in some pretty unique company.

According to Lynn Juell, Redwood Area Hospital imaging services manager, few hospitals have the kind of technology one can now find in the local hospital.

“The radiologist we work with told us no one else they serve has this machine,” Juell said.

The new scanner quadruples the capability of the hospital’s previous equipment.

The previous CT scanner at the hospital was a 16-slice (image) machine, and the newly installed ma-chine can do up to 64.

What difference does that make?

According to Juell, that allows for images in much greater detail.

Angie Johnson, radiological technologist for the local hospital added the images can be less than a millimeter thick. That means previous cancer cells or blot clots that might not have been detected can be seen.

The three-dimensional imaging en-hances what the hospital can send to the radiologists who looks over what has been scanned locally.

The hospital does not own the machine but has a lease agreement for its use.

Juell said the hospital pays based on the number of times the scanner is used.

The new technology also includes new radiation dosage technology that ensures the right amount of radiation is being used based on the patient.

The more exact the dosage can be means getting the best images and ensuring no more radiation is being used than is necessary.

To help with the work in the scanning area a ceiling lift was also installed. That lift allows those working with the scanner to better assist patients in wheelchairs and on backboards, added Johnson.

The Redwood Area Hospital Foundation funded the lift.

The new equipment also is bigger than the hospital’s past machine which makes the experience better for patients. New technology also means patients are not required to be in the machine as long as they used to be.

For example a patient who may have had to hold their breath for 20-30 seconds as a pulmonary study is done now may only have to hold their breath for eight seconds.

The images being made are in much greater detail, and it allows for pinpoint images that can focus on different systems within the body.

The new Siemens CT scanner is making response in emergencies much faster, and in time when moments count having images that can help diagnose a problem faster is in the best interest of the patients who are being served at the Redwood Area Hospital.